All the energy John McCain and Barack Obama spent talking up their commitment to Israel may not have given either candidate a boost among the people who know that country best.
Worried about the American economy, many Israeli immigrants in Forest Hills were unimpressed with this year’s nominees.
Paz Tsoran, a boutique owner in Forest Hills chose not to vote for president this year. “I don’t care for either of them,” she said of the presidential candidates. “I wish it had been Al Gore.”
This would have been the first American election in which Tsoran could have participated. She emigrated from Israel to the United States in 1986, but only became a U.S. citizen last year.
Tsoran said that her business has suffered recently and that neither candidate’s economic proposals inspired her.
“The bottom line is the economy,” said Tsoran. “Whoever wins the election, it’s important to me to see this country doing as well as I remember five or six years ago.”
A little farther down Austin Street, Amit Bennoun, the co-owner of a T-Mobile store and a native Israeli, echoed Tsoran’s dissatisfaction. “There’s nobody to vote for,” he said.
Bennoun, who left the southern port city of Ashdod 10 years ago and became a U.S. citizen four years ago, did not register to vote. He called Obama’s calls for change unrealistic. “Everything will stay the same,” he said. “He won’t be the president that can do any drastic changes.”
A number of Israeli immigrants in Forest Hills – now home to more Israeli natives than any other area in Queens – backed McCain, while expressing reservations about either candidate’s ability to get the economy back on track.
Chaim Hayon, owner of two children’s clothing stores on Austin Street, voted for McCain, citing experience as the deciding factor. “I think McCain will lead in the right direction,” Hayon said. “But I don’t think that either him or Obama will have any influence on the economy.”
Some Israelis supported McCain for his foreign policy. Gil Sharon, another Forest Hills resident from that country, cannot vote yet in the U.S. but is on the path to citizenship. “McCain comes from a military background,” Sharon said. “He will understand us better than Obama, who would meet without preconditions with our enemies.”
When it came to the Jewish electorate overall, Sharon saw a clear division. “I think most of the American Jews will be voting for Obama,” he said. “But most of the Israelis want McCain.”
